IVANA TELL YA
Ivana Trump is coming to town. Yes, sireeee. Ivana Zelnickova Winklmayr Trump, the Czech- born first wife of President Donald Trump — whose divorce was so incendiary it burned through the pages of the New York tabloid press decades ago — hits town in September to pitch her book, “Raising Trump.”
It will focus on Ivana’s part in raising three kids whose composure has drawn nationwide praise for her ex- husband.
And, of course, the “Shuge” — Sneed’s longtime society scrivener pal Sugar Rautbord, will be doing the book launch for her longtime friend, Ivana, who is single after two subsequent divorces.
“She is pretty fascinating in her own right,” said Rautbord, a Chicagoan who has known the Trumps for years and who organized a pre- election party for Ivanka Trump at the posh Gold Coast home of Shelley and Bill Farley last September.
“Ivana’s a tough, former European skiing champ who raised her children strictly and lovingly,” Rautbord said.
◆ Ivana, the mother of Ivanka, the stoic, disciplined daughter who has an unprecedented niche in the West Wing of the White House. “I call Ivanka the presidential apprentice,” Rautbord said.
◆ Ivana, the mother of Eric and Donald Jr., who has inherited his father’s Twitter feed affliction.
◆ Ivana, who once penned romantic novels after her divorce from the man she called “The Donald.”
“Although she now spends her time primarily in southern France, Ivana has a townhouse in New York and a place in Miami — although Ivana sold her place at Trump’s Mar- a- lago estate bought for her by Trump following their divorce in 1991, so she could be around their children vacationing there,” Rautbord said.
“I remember a time at Little Nell [ Hotel] in Colorado when Ivana insisted her children find a Christmas tree and chop it down themselves — and at the same time being an acute businesswoman with an eye looking around the Little Nell lobby for possible business clients for her husband!
“And when we were on their plane, Ivana did homework with each of her children individually in her private bedroom until they were finished.
“Besides, considering all the credit given to President Trump for having raised such amazing children, Ivana was also an incredible mother in their formative years,” Rautbord said.
That was when Ivana was a household word, the doyenne of the social world in New York in the 1980s.
“She was royalty in a way,” Rautbord said.
“I might add, Ivana also brought her 90- year- old mother, who was in a wheelchair, to the Trump presidential inauguration,” added Rautbord, who tossed book parties for Ivana during her apres divorce period when the divorcees in her novels always ended up “with the man and the money.”
Years ago, Sneed printed a column item about how Sugar, who was vacationing with the recently divorced Ivana aboard near Corsica, decided to swim in the ship’s wake — and got mistakenly left behind.
“I felt like I was afloat forever, but I was rescued by some Americans on a nearby yacht — although I was still very much out to sea,” she chirped.
“The Italian newspapers at the time had me deceased. But it was premature.
“Ivana still laughs about it — and I am still learning to.” Well, do tell.
And on and on and on . . .
Caitlyn Jenner, who was once Bruce Jenner — the fella who once broke the world decathlon record at the Olympic Games in Montreal and earned the title “World’s Greatest Athlete” — hits the Union League Club April 29 to talk about “The Secrets of My Life.” What? There’s more?
Sneedlings . . .
Stork talk: Congrats to Laura and Damien Isabella on the birth of their son, Ronan Daniel. . . . I spy: Blackhawks Ryan Hartman, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Nick Schmaltz and newbie John Hayden spotted at Chicago Cut on Tuesday night. . . . Today’s birthdays: Peyton Manning, 41; Jim Parsons, 44; Valentin Chmerkovskiy, 31, and Bob Clifford, ageless and priceless.